Top U.S. general: The situation in Afghanistan “is still very dangerous”

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

3.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters the situation in Afghanistan “is still very dangerous, very dynamic and very fluid” and said U.S. troops are “at risk.” CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward joins AC360 from Kabul to describe the chaos she’s been seeing as people have been rushing to the airport in an effort to flee and countries are racing to evacuate their citizens. Plus, Covid-19 vaccine booster shots will be offered in the U.S. beginning September 20, pending FDA authorization. Dr. Francis Collins is the director of the National Institutes of Health. He tells Anderson Cooper “when you try to balance benefits and risk,” getting a booster shot seems like “the wisest thing.” Airdate: August 18, 2021 Guests: Clarissa Ward Dr. Francis Collins To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good evening, President Biden today announcing booster shots for all vaccinated Americans in the coming months.
0:05.8	More just ahead on what that means for everyone vaccinated or not.
0:09.5	We begin, however, with Afghanistan and the President and the administration continuing to grapple with the consequences of the decision to leave that country.
0:17.1	Speaking tonight on ABC World News, he said that American troops might have to stay in country to secure the ongoing evacuation beyond his announced August 31st deadline.
0:26.6	According to the President now, if there's an American citizen's left, we're going to stay until we get them all out.
0:31.7	He did not fully extend that same commitment to Afghan nationals, though he said that's the objective.
0:36.8	And it's unclear how many Americans actually remain in Afghanistan.
0:40.7	Yesterday, U.S. officials gave differing answers.
0:43.3	Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in the morning said it was five to ten thousand.
0:47.0	Yesterday afternoon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was in fact eleven thousand.
0:51.7	And congressional age were told by State Department and Pentagon officials the number was actually between ten and fifteen thousand, according to three sources familiar with those briefings.
1:01.3	And that is the number the President said tonight.
1:03.8	He also answered questions about the execution of the pullout.
1:07.8	So, do you don't think this could have been handled? This Icic could have been handled better in any way? No mistakes?
1:14.6	No, I don't think it could have been handled in a way that we're going to go back and hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing.
1:27.5	I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened.
1:30.9	So, for you, that was always priced into the decision? Yes.
1:35.5	He went on to say in remarks that air tomorrow that he did not price into the decision, the Taliban keeping Afghans who cooperated with the United States from leaving the country.
1:44.6	He was also asked about his earlier rosier predictions about the end game.
1:48.4	Back in July, you said a Taliban takeover was highly unlikely. Was the intelligence wrong or did you downplay it?
1:56.6	I think there was no consensus if you go back and look at the intelligence reports.
2:01.4	They said that it was more likely to be some time by the end of the year.
	...

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